


Once Upon a Girl

by LaFemmeDarla



Category: Fables - Willingham
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-22
Updated: 2011-12-22
Packaged: 2017-10-27 20:30:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/299755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaFemmeDarla/pseuds/LaFemmeDarla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cinderella has been many things in her life: beloved daughter, unwanted stepdaughter, forced servant, pampered princess, scorned woman. Through all these things, she has also been a survivor. Cinderella/Bigby frienship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Once Upon a Girl

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Deense](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deense/gifts).



> Happy Yuletide!

Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother comes to her just before the wedding. She brings Something Blue for the blushing bride: delicate earrings of diamond and sapphire that were obviously not crafted by human hands. For the girl who has slept in the ashes from a very young age is almost too much and she tries to say so, but her Fairy Godmother will hear none of it.

“You are going to be a princess, my sweet Cinderella. Nothing but the best for you from now on.” These last words are said with a dreamy sight. “Oh, isn’t Prince Charming just delightful? I am so happy for you!”

“He is dashing,” Cinderella agrees. And while she’s quite taken with her future husband, her voice lacks the utter joy her Fairy Godmother expects. She makes it up with a reassuring smile to calm her Fairy Godmother’s nerves – and her own. Truth is, Cinderella knows everybody’s eyes are on her, expecting to be a perfect princess, or at least as beloved as Charming’s former wives still are. She has no ill feelings towards the women who came before her, but isn’t it too much to ask to not be compared to them? How is she going to thrive where others have failed? She tries to push such negative thoughts away.

Cinderella loves everything Charming represents: romance, freedom, a chance to start over. And after what she’s been through the last few years, doesn’t she deserve her happily ever after? Fairy Godmother obviously thinks so. As she lets her Fairy Godmother put the finishing touches on her veil, Cinderella admires her reflection on the mirror. She is going to walk into the church with her head held up high and show everybody that she has earned this.

*

The first three months are blissful. Charming is a devoted husband and a rather skillful lover. Cinderella has an entire household devoted to give her anything she could ask for. The people of the kingdom slowly warm up to her. The pressure on being the princess everyone expects is hard, but she tells herself is a small price to pay. Sometimes she even believes it.

Then the rumors start. Servants talk in hushed tones about their master’s latest conquest, dissapointed but not surprised at the prince’s behavior.

Cinderella doesn’t let her marriage go down without a fight. She confronts Charming and is rightfully skeptical when he promises her that it won’t happen again. Still, she tries to make it work one more time. She spends as much time as possible by his side, joining him for rides on the woods, pretending that everything is just as it was during balls and state dinners, taking an interest on the things he loves. She is specially taken with his fencing skills and one time even asks him if he will teach her how to use a sword. His expression darkens for a moment, but he is back to his smiling self as he takes her hands in his, kissing the fingertips and whispering how such beautiful hands should not hold dangerous objects.

*

It happens again. This time she ignores Charming's excuses and asks for a divorce. Oh, she knows the kind of gossip that will bring, but she doesn’t care. The beautiful castle feels like a prison and every royal duty weights heavily on her after Charming’s betrayal. He does little to try to salvage the marriage at this point, focusing instead on how to save his kingdom from the fast approaching forces of the Adversary.

In the end, the kingdom’s fate is just as hopeless as their marriage marriage and the once happy couple is forced to escape one night, an army of enemy soldiers hot on their trail. Their journey is not an easy one, but they stick together, their marital troubles set aside in order to survive. They make it to the Keep at the End of the World, the last safe haven for their people and many others. There is a boat ready to take the last group of survivors to a new land and there are very few seats left. Cinderella agrees to keep the charade of their marriage to help Charming get a seat and even aids him in “acquiring” some gold and jewels from the Keep.

She takes half of those riches after the divorce.

*

Cinderella has been many things in her life: beloved daughter, unwanted stepdaughter, forced servant, pampered princess, scorned woman. Through all these things, she has also been a survivor. Divorced and alone in a strange land, many women would give up to despair. Cinderella is certainly bitter about her situation and it shows, but she also embraces her newfound freedom and wastes no time in making a life for herself in Fabletown. She makes new friends – including Charming’s two former wives, gets a little house to call her own and opens a cobbler’s shop.

If anyone suspects how could she possibly afford these things, no dares to say it out loud. What she and everybody else may have done before their arrival matter no more according the Fabletown Compact. Many come to look at the merchandise and some even make purchases.

Her last costumer of the day arrives just a few minutes before closing time. She is surprised at first to see him walk in, but doesn’t overthink it. He doesn’t seem like the kind of man who enjoys a full shop.

“Good evening, Sheriff,” she says, putting on her best smile and welcoming attitude. “How may I help you?”

“I would like a word with you,” he replies after a quick look around assures him that they’re the only people in the shop. His tone is far from friendly and Cinderella cannot help crossing her arms over her chest, smile replaced with a calculating look. He chuckles at this. “I’m not here to arrest you. I want you to work for me.”

Well, that is unexpected. “I’m not sure I follow, Sheriff. As you can see, I am in no need of employment.”

“I employ the services of several Fables,” he begins as he examines a pair of brown boots. “To keep track of those who choose not to live here and to handle certain 'situations'.”

Cinderella nods. She’s heard the names. “Mowgli, Feathertop and the Woodsman, am I right?”

“Exactly. Everyone knows about them. If they get involved, people knows is Fabletown business. I need someone nobody knows about.”

“And you thought of me?” She could name four or five people who would serve his purposes better.

“I know your story. You are no stranger to hard work. You know how to adapt to new situations. And nobody would suspect you.”

That much is true. “And what makes you think I’d be interested, dear Sheriff?”

“For starters,” he says before gesturing around. “You are not afraid of a challenge. This world is our home now and I'm asking for your help keeping that home safe. And the name’s Bigby.”

Cinderella closes her for a moment and sees herself as a child, loved and unburdened. She thinks of the many ways her life has changed. She sees herself as she is now, shaped by many things and still eager to try others, the many possibilities. When she opens her eyes, she smiles.

“Would you care to tell me more over some mulled wine, Bigby?”

*

She is not afraid or hard work, but she had not been expecting this.

By the end of the week, her knuckles bleed, her muscles are sore and she is pretty sure that if she had any strenght left, she would be punching Bigby in the face instead of dragging herself back into her rooms. But even as she boils water for a much needed bath, Cinderella is smiling and looking forward to her next lesson. Her employer is rough and his training could be called brutal, but his lessons are valuable. It helps that she is a quick study and rarely makes the same mistake twice.

She tends her shop during the day. In this world where her story is well known by the Mundanes, she is stronger and more resilient, capable of spending days without sleep. Still, some customers notice her tired eyes and her satisfied smile. There is gossip of course, but none of it comes even close to the truth. Cinderella lets it go, even adding a few things of her own. She is loud and bitter and wants everyone to know it. Gossip can be a powerful weapon when used correctly. It can tear people apart and it can shape the way some are seen.

*

Puss curls in her lap, purring in happiness. If anyone could see them now, they would only see a young peasant girl and her pet cat. Thankfully there are no Mundanes in the empty barn that serves as their shelter from the bitter rain and the soldiers hunting them down. Cinderella takes the opportunity to scold him.

“That was a very dangerous thing to do,” she tells him. “You know the rules.”

“You mean the ones where I am supposed to be a prisoner?” he jumps off her lap with hiss. “It’s easy for you to say, Cinderella. You can come and go as you please while I’m supposed to be content with life on the Farm? How low has the Marquis of Carabas fallen!”

Cinderella is about to reply when a noise makes them turn towards the barn door. A soldier soaked to the bone steps in, momentarily surprised at finding someone else inside, then smiling as he recognizes them. Before he can raise his weapon Cinderella is on her feet, running straight ahead towards him. She carries no weapons and she doesn’t need them. One of Bigby’s many rules of combat. There’s no struggle to speak of. She knocks him to the floor and breaks his neck in one swift move. She then looks back at Puss, who is obviously shaken but alright. She goes to the door and has a quick look. No one around, but if this one found them, the others cannot be too far behind. After carefully closing the door again, she takes the time to search through the body, taking anything that might be useful – his knife, money, papers – before talking.

“I understand wanting to be free,” she says calmly. “But actions have consequences. And it seems as if you didn’t think things through.” Search finished, she walks towards Puss.

“Even the Fables allowed to go into the world are bound to secrecy,” she continues, kneeling next to Puss. “We cannot let the Mundanes know about us. You understand that, right?” Puss nods. “Good. You are in a lot of trouble now, but play nice for the rest of the journey back and I’ll put in a good word with Bigby. You are a very smart fellow when you want to be and I could use your eyes and ears on the Farm if you are so inclined. In return, someday, when we are ready to take back the Homelands, I promise to help you regain those lands of yours. Do we have a deal, Marquis?”

She holds out her hands. Puss places his paw on her palm and a deal is sealed.

*

“I’m not sure that was a good idea,” Bigby tells her a few months later.

Cinderella pours him more ale before taking a seat across from him. “We could always use someone in the Farm. Puss can be reckless, but he’s learned his lesson and who knows? Maybe someday will be able to go back. Until then, he’ll work with me if I need him.”

“And he won’t back down?”

Cindy cannot help a smile. “He saw me in action. I don’t think he’ll consider trying something like that.”

Bigby smiles even as he shakes his head. “Maybe I taught you a little too well.”

*

Bigby is not allowed to smoke in the storage room, where the smell of cigarettes could linger on the merchandise. They end up talking in the alley behind the store while Crispin – Cindy’s overpaid and overcomplaining clerk – looks after the store.

“That’s a nasty wound,” her boss says with a nod towards her shouder. Cindy’s sweater conceals the bandages quite well, but of course Bigby can smell the blood.

“Bluebeard has a temper,” she replies. “And some issues with Rose Red and Jack.”

The Sheriff’s lips curve into a smile. “Interesting. Tell me more.”

She tells him what she has so far. I listens and nods. “I’ll look into it. Keep your eyes and ears open and inform me of anything else.” He heads towards the door, then pauses. “Have you heard from Crane?”

“Not yet. I might have to drop by, bring him a little Remembrance Day present.”

Bigby may have his back turned, but Cindy can tell he’s scowling. “Not yet. Let’s see if he gets cold feet and comes to Snow to rat you out as a spy.”

They both know is not going to happen, but Cindy plays along. “How long should we wait?”

“Until I crack the case. I need all my focus on this.” He walks away without waiting for a reply. Cindy sights. Not that she holds it against him. Snow is probably devastated. Of course he is not going to focus on anything else at the time. She gives him a few minutes and then walks back into the store, where Crispin is already waiting for her with questions about inventory. She dismisses with a wave of her hand. She has an appointment to get her nails done and she cannot miss it for the world. Briar Rose happens to visit that place at the same and Cindy wants to know what she has heard about the recent turn of events.

*  
“I guess this is goodbye for now,” she says.

Technically they had said their goodbyes already, not too long after Bigby had introduced her to Fabletown’s new sheriff as the off the books agent. Sheriff Beast certainly hadn’t see that coming.

“You’ll be alright,” Bigby says. “I trained you well. And Beast has potential.”

“I’ll keep an eye on him,” she promises and he smiles. She knows is a rare sight, his being unable to stay with the woman he loves and their children just too much for him to bear. Better not to let this goodbye go on for too long.

“I should go. I promise Crispin I would listen to this latest idea and who knows? This one might be good.” They both laugh.

Bigby pats her on the shoulder. “You take care, Cindy. Maybe we’ll see each other again.”

Not “maybe”. She is sure he’ll be back. It doesn't mean she isn't sad to part ways. "Sure thing, Bigby," she says. "Perhaps next time we meet you will accept those skydiving lessons I've been offering you."

"Don't even joke about that," he mutters as he walks away.

*

“Do you have these in my size?” Rapunzel asks as she holds out a navy blue pump. Cindy nods and heads to the back room. She has given Crispin the day off. She is heading to London tomorrow and she hopes a little rest will make him stop complaining as often. She hopes.

She comes back with the requested pair and takes a seat next to Rapunzel before handing her the box.

“It’s so nice to see you around,” Rapunzel says as she tries on the shoes.

“Oh, you know me. Always checking the latest fashion trends firsthand.”

“I know. I wish I could see the world as often as you do. But, you know.” She gestures towards her ponytail, which has grown just a littlle over an inch since she first walked into the store. “Besides, it must so expensive! Thank goodness you can afford it.”

Cindy nods and looks down. The shoes are a perfect fit. “Will you be taking them with you?”

“Yes, please. No need to pack them.”

They continue to talk through the transaction. Cindy mentions her upcoming trip and complains about the toll is going to take on her credit card and how sales have been down lately. Let Rapunzel think things are not going as smoothly as they should.

“I’m sure is just temporary,” is the other girl’s reply. “I cannot imagine Fabletown without the Glass Slipper. This store has been here for years! I still remember when it was a little cobbler’s shop. You have come a long way.”

Cindy looks around the shop, beyond the shoes and through the window she can see the sun setting through the buildings. In a few hours she will close shop, go home and pack her things – clothes, fake documents, handglider skirt. A new mission awaits.

“I know, right?” She tells Rapunzel with a grin. “It’s been quite the journey.”


End file.
